Difficult people

Few people are difficult to be with. I have seen that these people trigger the worst in us. I see them as the black belt trainers. The role of the black belt trainer in marshall arts is to throw us down. Our role is to try not to fall or bounce back to our feet as quickly as possible. Dealing with difficult people sometimes needs a combination of creativity, empathy, curiosity, and firmness. Reframing their role as our emotional black belt trainer may be the starting point.

“Difficult people are the greatest teachers.” – Pema Chodron, Tibetian Buddhist Teacher

Community of Practice

A community of practice is formed when group of people who share a common concern, a set of problems or an interest in a topic and come together to fulfill both individual and group goals. Communities of Practice has been very invaluable in my learning journey. In the past, being part of a writing community has helped me write 30 short stories and contribute as an author to one anthology. It has taught me something about how humans essentially learn. Even though learning seems like an individual pursuit, learning accelerates by exchanging, debating, and working on our ideas with others.

“Practice is a shared history of learning. Practice is conversational.” – Etienne Wenger, American educationist and practitioner

Self-effort in liberation and coaching

In the Indian philosophical text Vivekachudamani, the role of a guru and the importance of self-effort from disciples are explained. A disciple seeking liberation needs to do her inner work. Her guru can only provide her with a vision, a glimpse of the goal to be achieved, and logical arguments to convince her of the goal and the path. This is true not only in a guru-disciple relationship but also in a coach and coachee relationship. Transformation happens not because there was a coach but because there was effort from the coachee’s end.

“Self-effort alone can yield for us a mastery over our own mind’s storms.”- Swami Chinmayananda, an Indian Spiritual leader